Yoshi
|
|
Yoshi (Japanese: ヨッシー) is a dinosaur from various Nintendo video games. He was originally known as Super Dragon Yoshi in Japan, though he is not actually a dragon of any kind. He is Mario's dino friend, first appearing in Super Mario World for the Super Famicom in his Japanese release. His North American and European debuts came on the SNES in Super Mario World. Yoshi was created by Shigefumi Hino, a graphics designer and the director of Pikmin. The reason why he was created was that shortly after Shigeru Miyamoto finished Super Mario Bros., Nintendo's design staff wanted Mario to ride a dino. That concept was considered technically impossible until the SNES was developed, though unofficial ports of Super Mario World to the NES have shown it may not have been.
After that he gained popularity, starring in two more adventure games, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island and Yoshi's Story and three puzzle games, Yoshi's Cookie, the simply-titled Yoshi, and Tetris Attack, as well as Mario is Missing and a few other games. He is one of the characters in the original N64 Super Smash Bros. and the GameCube version, Super Smash Bros. Melee. Yoshi made a cameo in Super Mario 64, and was playable in Super Mario Sunshine. Yoshi has attained a popularity almost as great as that of Mario himself. Yoshies appear in different colors, which are green, yellow, red, pink, teal, orange, blue, purple, black, and white. The black and white Yoshies are rare. Green is the standard color of a Yoshi. The king in the castle of World 7 in Super Mario Bros. 3 was transformed into a Yoshi by Ludwig Von Koopa on the Super Mario All-Stars SNES version, but he was transformed into a Piranha Plant on the original NES version. Yoshies inhabit many areas of the world from the Mushroom Kingdom to Isle Delfino and are, for some reason, all named Yoshi (similar to the Mr. Saturns of EarthBound).
Yoshi's appearances in video games, usually sports, often portray him as an agile character. In Mario Kart games, Yoshi has very good acceleration, but is most likely to skid off the track. Peach is similar to Yoshi in the original Super Mario Kart game. In Mario Tennis, he is a very fast tennis player. In Super Smash Bros. series, Yoshi is the only character without a third jump attack, and his trademark move is the swallow move (as originally depicted in Super Mario World). His upward special move was throwing eggs. Yoshi's "egg-rolling" move was introduced in Super Smash Bros. Melee.
It is interesting to note that in the Chinese language, 游戏 (yóuxì in pinyin) means "game."
It is highly likely that the Japanese name for Yoshi (ヨッシー, [yoS:i:]) was intended to rhyme with the Japanese pronunciation for another dinosaur-like creature, Nessie (ネッシー, [neS:i:] -- see SAMPA chart for pronunciation key).
Super Mario Advance 3 turned Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island into a Game Boy Advance game with 6 newly added levels.
